Julie Doucet Drawn & Quarterly ($14.95) by Gary Sullivan On The Comics Journal's ill-fated online bulletin board, a thread started up concerning women cartoonists and influence. Someone posted what seemed a fairly interesting, but hardly controversial, question: Has there been any appreciable influence by the ever-growing number of women participating in "underground" or "alternative" comics? A […]
Armand Schwerner National Poetry Foundation ($32.95 hardcover, $19.95 paperback) by Eric Lorberer Armand Schwerner's death in early 1999 came too soon, sadly, for the Belgian-born poet to see the various projects he was working on to fruition. Yet here at year's end, readers can bear witness to his astounding legacy, represented by three new publications: […]
Nicole Blackman Incommunicado Press ($13) by Bruna Darini Deemed "an alt-rock diva" by the Village Voice, Nicole Blackman is as much a musician as spoken word artist and writer, one who infuses stanzas with such lyrical quality, they resemble refrains. Blood Sugar, her debut poetry collection, pulled from popular chapbooks Pretty, Sweet, and Nice, offers honest, literal poetry, capturing the […]
Steve Erickson Bard/Avon Books ($23) by Aidan Baker Steve Erickson's characters inhabit a fragile world, an alternate reality that might as well be our own, but isn't. His characters are always at some remove from their loved ones, whether physically or mentally, and the chain of consequence brings them fleetingly together only to tear them […]
Isabel Allende HarperCollins ($26) by Jay Miskowiec Before a recent reading from her novel Daughter of Fortune, Isabel Allende remarked that the act of writing had helped her on a "journey through the shadows" after the death of her daughter from a rare illness several years ago. While one can appreciate the depth of such an […]
Edited by Russell Ferguson University of California Press ($39.95) by Chris Fischbach In Memory of My Feelings: Frank O'Hara and American Art is the book which accompanies the exhibit of the same name which ran at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles July 11th through November 14th, 1999, and which will also be shown […]
Mark Caldwell Picador USA ($18) by Christopher Tinney In his introduction to A Short History of Rudeness, the author asks us, "What are manners, anyway?" It seems a pertinent question in this era of road rage, Jerry Springer, and political correctness. Are manners inextricably tied to morality? Or are they simply learned gestures, automatic behaviors and phrases […]
Leila J. Rupp University of Chicago Press ($22) by Brad Jacobsen A storyteller exists inside everyone. Stories are shared on a daily basis without much thought as to the consequences, if any, of sharing these tales. But what if there is fallout from telling a little too much, of speaking the socially unspeakable? What happens […]
Interview by Robert Couteau Robert Couteau: You've just returned from Europe, where you gave a series of readings in Germany and attended the Paris premiere of the documentary, A Couple of Things About Hubert Selby. Would you care to relate some of the highlights of your recent trip? Hubert Selby: I don't know if there were any highlights, to […]
Interview by Jason Weiss Known above all as a film and theater director, Alejandro Jodorowsky (Chile, 1930) began by working in the circus and with marionettes. In 1962, with Arrabal and Topor, he founded the Theater of Panic in Paris, where they staged many happenings. His films, several of which have achieved cult status, include Fando y […]